


trust

by delightwrites



Series: we found something along the way [1]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Set during S1, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and she loves them a lot, in fact, listen i love these kids, rayla is accidentally adopted by two weird human princes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26120095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delightwrites/pseuds/delightwrites
Summary: ""I had no idea you knew how to braid hair, Ez."Ez doesn't know.But it can't be that hard, can it?"-the boys try to help Rayla with braiding her hair
Relationships: Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: we found something along the way [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896547
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	trust

**Author's Note:**

> so these two works were supposed to be part of a bigger fic, but since i don't think i'll be finishing them anytime soon, i decided to post them as separate ficlets. hopefully, it will be finished one day, but if not, they stand quite well on their own.
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoy!

"Aargh," Ezran jerks his head up as he hears Rayla growl in frustration for the umpteenth time. The elven girl is sitting by the river - obviously too close to the swift swirling currents for her liking - and struggling to tie her hair. She's trying to catch a glimpse of her reflection in the water, probably hoping it would be of help. It doesn't really work out.

"What's wrong?" Ez asks, temporarily abandoning his playtime with Bait.

"Nothing," Rayla says sharply. The strand of hair she was holding falls out from her hand and she can't catch it quickly enough, so she just growls again. Then she deflates, and sighing in defeat she says, "I'm trying to braid my hair out of my face, but I can't do it with this hand..."

Ezran frowns. He’s noticed before that something was wrong with Rayla’s left hand but every time he tried to bring it up, she shut the question down. That doesn’t stop him from feeling sorry Rayla can use only one hand, even if she’s not telling him the reason.

But, he realizes suddenly, he can use both hands!

"I'll do it for you!" He offers before he could think twice.

If he did, maybe he would have realised he hasn't got the slightest idea about hairbraiding. But it's too late, because Rayla is thanking him sincerely and she settles down with her back to him and _hey, when did Callum say he was coming back from collecting wood for the fire?_

"I had no idea you knew how to braid hair, Ez."

Ez doesn't know.

But it can't be that hard, can it?

He tries, separating Rayla's hair into three parts and then he crosses this part over that one and then that one over the other and-

"Eeek, Rayla...?" He asks after a couple minutes because he can see it's not just not going where he was imagining, but also probably getting worse with each attempt.

There are knots all over the girl’s white hair, the braid twisting in unusual directions, some parts sticking together even though Ezran doesn't have jelly on his hands now, he swears.

"Hmm?" Rayla asks and with her good hand, she reaches to the back of her neck. Then she freezes as she feels the knots and tangles and she slowly turns to look at Ez with slight panic in her eyes.

"I... don't know how to braid hair," Ezran confesses quietly.

"Oh," Rayla says and she would look funny like that, with wide eyes and one hand still grabbing the back of her hair, if it wasn't Ezran who messed it up in the first place.

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

Callum returns, dropping branches on the forest floor with a proud smile. He's been getting better at this camping thing, really.

Rayla can't seem to be able to speak at all.

She just gapes, staring at Ez and then staring at Callum. Then staring at Bait, even though he definitely won't be of much help, Ez knows that.

Callum furrows his brows in confusion and Ez decides to break the silence.

"I wanted to help braiding Rayla's hair," he says. "But I messed up."

Callum nods, understanding everything.

"It's okay, I can fix that," he says.

Ezran sighs in relief. 

Rayla, however, doesn't seem to be relieved at all.

"You don't need to!" She says hastily and jumps up, backing away from the boys ever so slightly. "It's fine, I like it this way. Or, you know what, I could cut it really short! Whe-where's my knife?"

"Rayla, you don't have to cut your hair. Please," Callum asks. "I can fix it."

The girl hesitates.

“Trust me,” Callum says, so seriously it’s almost ridiculous. Rayla drops her shoulders and grunts softly.

"Fine," she says. "But just because I know you can’t make it much worse."

She drops back down on the ground and Callum sits behind her. He uses his fingers to comb through Rayla's hair and he starts to untangle the knots, frowning in concentration. Ezran sits back and watches them in silence.

"Huh," Rayla sighs. "For a second I thought you were gonna use one o' those stupid spells to blow the knots out of my hair... or zap me again."

"I can still try that," Callum jokes.

"Ugh, please no." Rayla rolls her eyes.

But her hair is untangled soon enough and when she turns to thank Callum, her voice is genuine.

"I'm really sorry, Rayla," Ezran says, not for the first time and probably not the last.

"It's okay, Ez," Rayla smiles at him softly. "I'll teach you how to braid hair once my hand is-"

She looks down on her hurting hand and winces. Ez feels like he wants to say he’s sorry again.

"Or maybe not," Rayla finishes quietly.

"Or maybeee..." Callum says and he draws out the syllable in a funny way that makes Ezran snort and Rayla roll her eyes again. "I could teach you. If you still want your hair braided, Rayla, that is," he adds.

Rayla bites her lip, contemplating the offer. Then she nods, with a glint in her eye and she turns back around.

Callum grins at Ezran and gestures him to sit closer. Ez scoots over to him, watching intently.

"You know, the trick is that the parts need to be even," his brother starts and separates Rayla's white hair into three perfectly even parts. "See?"

Ezran nods enthusiastically. Then Callum starts braiding Rayla's hair, all while explaining the steps to him in detail.

"Where did you learn how to braid hair anyway, artsy prince?" Rayla asks mischieviously, half-turning back to them.

There a beat of silence and Ezran realises he has no idea. He's never seen Callum braid anyone else's hair before so where did he learn that? Claudia? But she-

"From Mom," Callum says quietly and-

Mom.

Oh.

"She-" his brother's voice cracks a bit but he clears his throat and continues. "She had really pretty, long hair and she'd let me braid it sometimes."

"That's very sweet," Rayla says, surprisingly solemn.

Callum looks at Ezran and smiles. Ez saw the portraits of their mother and her statue too. He'd also seen drawings, more than he can count, Callum's drawings, and he remembers now that yes, she always seemed to wear her hair in a braid.

For a second, Ezran wishes he could have learned how to braid their mom's hair. He thinks she would have let him, even if he had jelly smeared all over his fingers.

"Here, Ez," Callum says now, gently, and he places some of Rayla's white hair in his hand. "You try now."

Ezran takes a deep breath. He remembers how Callum did it and he tries to replicate every step. He even sticks his tongue out in concentration.

“Like this?” he asks uncertainly, squinting up at Callum as he works.

His brother raises a brow and studies his handiwork for a while. Then he nods and smiles warmly at Ezran. Ez returns his with a toothy smile and lets out a triumphant _ha!_ before continuing.

It's hard. And long. It's a hard, long work and he still messes up sometimes but Callum is there to show him how to fix it and Rayla sits patiently, humming as she busies herself with sharpening her knives while the boys work. But in the end, she gives them her brightest smile yet, after checking her hair in the reflection of the primal stone Callum helds in front of her, and Ez thinks he could do with doing this every day.

**Author's Note:**

> check out pt. 2 in the series!!
> 
> if you liked it, kudos and comments give me life
> 
> find me on tumblr @sky-mage


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